The council insists it is leading to a litter problem and that rough sleepers can get food from the soup kitchens around the city centre.

Council officials recently urged Brummies to ask homeless people if they want food first before handing it over to them out of generosity as they believe a lot of it is being wasted and leaving the streets untidy.

Coronation Street star Andrew Lancel feels it shouldn’t be up to the councils to make decisions to tell people what to do when it comes to helping the homeless:

“It’s your decision (to give to the homeless), and it is not up to a council to say, ‘don’t do it’.”

A caller from London then told of how her aid towards the homeless was once criticised by police, claiming they told her “it encourages the homeless people to be homeless”, but felt it was part of a bigger conspiracy for councils to clean the streets of the homeless before Christmas:

“I feel as though they (the councils) want to clean up the streets as it’s getting to that time of the year when people start coming up for Christmas parties.